


Like a light came on

by HopeSilverheart



Series: Loving Em at 2AM [76]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: All the fluff and feelings, Alternate Universe - Human, Background Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, F/F, Fairies, Family Feels, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Getting Together, Girls in Love, Magical Realism, Magnus Bane & Clary Fray Friendship, Meet-Cute, Summer, little to no plot, they're siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:48:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25832305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeSilverheart/pseuds/HopeSilverheart
Summary: “Don’t worry, big bro, we’ve got it under control. We’ll be so good you’ll hardly recognise us, and we’ll put those perfect Lightwoods to shame with our- holy god, fuck me.”She knew her brothers had turned towards her, but Clary wasn’t sure she would ever be able to take her eyes off the vision in front of her. She knew it was pathetic, but could she really be blamed? The woman talking to Luke looked like a goddess, and Clary was honestly surprised she wasn’t drooling at the sight.Or: All Clary needs to fall in love is a beautiful girl, a summer night, and the fairies from her childhood dreams.
Relationships: Clary Fray/Isabelle Lightwood
Series: Loving Em at 2AM [76]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764400
Comments: 5
Kudos: 45





	Like a light came on

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thatnerdemryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatnerdemryn/gifts).



> title is from Maisie Peters' 'Feels Like This'.

Clary frowned at her mom, crossing her arms over her chest and trying to appear as intimidating as possible.

“Absolutely not,” she said firmly, confidence swelling inside her chest when Simon and Magnus nodded enthusiastically behind her. “Mom, I refuse to have a cookout with… With _snobs_ like the Lightwoods.”

“Honey, you’ve never even met them,” Jocelyn raised her eyebrows, clearly unimpressed by the redhead’s protests. “I spent all of my summers with Maryse when I was younger, and I assure you that she’s a wonderful person. I don’t doubt that her children are just as kind. Besides, don’t think I’ve forgotten about the time when you tried to sneak into their camp. I know you want to see if it looks as good from close up as it does from afar.”

“First of all, the only reason we tried to sneak in there was because there was a _coyote_ , mom,” Clary pointed out. “Secondly, I really don’t want to see their multi-million dollar mansion, no matter how nice this Maryse woman was when she was a child. I bet her kids are all spoiled brats who don’t appreciate the true wonders of this place.”

“They had a house here all along and didn’t even _use it_ , mom!” Magnus chimed in, throwing his hands up in the air as though the mere thought of not wanting to visit the camp every year was unimaginable. To the Fray children, it was. “I know you always want to see the best in people, but this can’t possibly be a good idea. I bet they have one of those fancy barbeques only rich people know how to use.”

“I bet they have a swimming pool just to avoid going down to the beach,” Simon snorted. “Probably complete with a whole set of tanning lotions for their lounge chairs or whatever else rich people need in their homes.”

“I bet they spent the last four days complaining about having to spend time in the countryside,” Clary added. “City people like them aren’t meant for places like these.”

“ _You’re_ a city person, honey,” her mother sighed, rubbing her face tiredly as she shook her head at her children – plus Simon, although he was practically her son too. “Look, it’s too late to back out now. Luke already left to check out their grill and chat with Maryse, so cancelling would be incredibly rude.”

The only answer she got was a trio of matching eyerolls as the three young adults trudged out of the house and headed towards the beach sulkily. They had been planning on spending the evening together, just the three of them, and making a huge bonfire. Clary had been looking forward to it for days, and now they were going to be stuck with the Lightwoods all night.

Truth be told, none of them knew much about the Lightwoods; not even Jocelyn, who had been friends with Maryse for years when they were children. There were three or four children – the exact number was still unclear – and they all lived in New York City with their mother. That was about all the information Clary had on them.

“Do you think they’ll even let us approach them?” Simon asked as they settled down on the pebbly beach. “Or are they going to stare at us haughtily from afar?”

“They’ll probably be overly polite,” Magnus huffed. “Rich people like acting as though they’re on top of the world and treating us kindly is likely their little bit of charity for the summer. Mom told me that the eldest son is studying _law_ at _Harvard_.”

“Seriously?” Clary scrunched her nose up in disgust. “I still don’t understand why mom and dad think this is a good idea. They know we don’t like making friends with the strange neighbours that pop up every few years. I still have nightmares from that time with the weird kid and his pet goose or whatever the hell that was.”

“Ooh, Raj?” Simon snickered. “Yeah, he was a weird one. To be fair, there have been some better ones occasionally, like Maia from two years ago?”

“You mean the Maia you dated?” Magnus raised a judgemental brow in Simon’s direction. “Your opinion is biased, Si. But our past experiences are besides the point. I say we should just ignore the siblings before they have the chance to ignore us or treat us like crap. As long as we don’t get sucked into their little rich people games, we’ll be fine.”

“Okay, but what if they’re hot?” Clary asked bluntly, shooting a significant look Simon’s way.

“Hey! I know how to control myself!” Simon cried out indignantly, poking Clary in the chest accusingly. “Just because I’ve been known to occasionally let people’s looks drag me into strange situations doesn’t mean I’m going to do it every time. Besides, how pretty can these people really be? It would be genuinely unfair if on top of being rich, white, and probably smart, they were _hot_ too. The world has to maintain some balance, Fray.”

“It didn’t maintain balance for me,” Magnus smirked smugly, dodging both Simon’s and Clary’s reprimanding slaps. “I’m just saying. The three of us aren’t so bad either, and we’ve got plenty of other great traits, so… Let’s not jinx this before we get there, alright? Just don’t talk to them any more than strictly necessary. Maybe if we behave, we can get mom to let us leave early.”

“We shouldn’t even have to go there in the first place,” Clary grumbled, kicking a rock into the lake and cringing when a wave of salty water hit her straight in the face in retaliation. “I mean, we’re adults. She shouldn’t be able to order us around like that.”

“She lets us live under her roof for an entire month,” Magnus shrugged. “The least we can do is listen to her when she asks to do something as simple as having dinner with the Lightwoods. And hey, I’m sure we’ll get great food out of the deal, if nothing else.”

With that, Magnus stood, helped Simon up, and mumbled something about going for a refreshing run – because her brothers were horrible people who thought jogging in the summer was _refreshing_. They half-heartedly asked her if she wanted to come along, but they all knew Clary wasn’t about to get up unless someone physically hauled her away from the water.

So as her brothers left to do something relatively productive with the rest of their afternoon, Clary stared at the water and wondered when this place had become more of a home to her than New York City.

She didn’t understand why the Lightwoods had never taken advantage of their beautiful mansion, their beautiful camp, and the beautiful lake at their disposition. It had always been right there for them to use, so why wait so long to get out and enjoy it? Why on earth would they want to spend their entire summers in the city when they had _this_ waiting for them?

As she fell asleep, the sunlight and soft waved soothing her, she couldn’t help but think that the Lightwood children must have lived a sad life until then. Maybe that was why their mother had dragged them all the way to upstate New York.

After all, everyone knew happiness would always be found around Lake Champlain.

* * *

The first thing Clary noticed when she walked into the Lightwoods’ backyard early that evening was how _clean_ the place was.

One of the things she had always loved about the Fray camp was how cluttered and unkept the space tended to be. She loved how the long grass that tickled her calves when she walked out in the morning, loved their sometimes mismatched cutlery, loved the way almost none of the outside furniture clashed together horribly. It was a little bit messy and a little bit dysfunctional, but Clary had never minded it.

Staring at the Lightwood garden made her feel like something was missing. Sure, the area was spotless and beautiful in the same way rich people’s houses often were, but it was clear to her that no one had lived in the camp for a very long time. For a second, she couldn’t help but wish that her parents had decided to have the cookout at _their_ camp. And then she remembered the lifestyle the Lightwoods led, and she grimaced internally.

Yeah, maybe they were better off staying on this side of the neighbourhood.

“I told you they would have a pool,” Simon pointed at the pool in question as though it had personally offended him. “Seriously, what is it with rich people and their perfect little water spots? Is the lake not up to their standards?”

“They probably don’t want to accidentally touch a fish,” Magnus chuckled lowly. “I bet you they’re the kind of people to run away from spiders when they find out laying around.”

“Magnus,” Clary narrowed her eyes at her brother, nudging his side as hard as she could manage. “ _I’m_ the kind of person to run away from spiders, so I’d be a little more careful with what you choose to say about the Lightwoods. Being afraid of bugs doesn’t mean I love this place any less.”

“Coward,” Simon muttered underneath his breath, smiling innocently when Clary turned her glare on him.

Before any of them could say anything else, their mother waved them over to the group of people located at the far end of the garden. From what Clary could tell, there were four children, so there went _that_ mystery. One of them was ridiculously, only one of them was blond, and one of them looked significantly younger than the rest. Overall, they made for an odd bunch.

Although the Frays probably made for an even odder group, given Clary’s bright red hair and short stature, Magnus’ golden skin and perfect hair, and Simon’s lanky nerdiness. They clearly weren’t biological siblings, but Clary _dared_ the Lightwoods to say a single bad thing about their unconventional family. At the end of the day, the only thing that mattered was how much they loved each other.

“Remember, try to avoid talking to them if possible,” Magnus whispered. “Smile, be as polite as you can manage without puking, and make sure mom sees us acting like exemplary children. The ultimate goal has remained the same…”

“Bonfire!” Clary and Simon completed in unison, smiling brightly at each other. “Don’t worry, big bro, we’ve got it under control. We’ll be so good you’ll hardly recognise us, and we’ll put those perfect Lightwoods to shame with our- holy god, _fuck me_.”

She knew her brothers had turned towards her, could feel their judgemental stares and their discreet nudges as they tried to get her to look back at them, but Clary wasn’t sure she would ever be able to take her eyes off the vision in front of her.

She knew it was pathetic; she knew she had told Simon and Magnus that she would stay strong even if the Lightwoods were unbearably beautiful, and she knew she would get plenty of shit over it later, but could she really be blamed? The woman talking to Luke looked like a goddess, and Clary was honestly surprised she wasn’t drooling at the sight.

If the Lightwoods had all been guys, she could have probably made it through the night just fine, but with a woman like _that_ around? Clary was strong, but she was still human, and her eyes knew how to recognise divinity when it was all but thrown in her face.

“I can’t believe you,” Simon hissed. “After the speech you gave me earlier, you’re going to go and ruin all our plans just because of a pretty girl? I thought you were stronger than this, Fray.”

“Simon,” Clary said seriously, wrenching her gaze away from the brunette to stare at her best friend and brother in all but blood. “I love you, alright? I love you to pieces and I would do a lot of things for you, but I haven’t met a girl that gorgeous in months, and I’m honestly desperate enough to go for a Lightwood at this point.”

“They’re _rich_ ,” Magnus argued, although Clary could tell he was struggling to keep his own eyes off the eldest Lightwood. Not that Clary could blame him, since she would have been just as entranced if she wasn’t very, very gay. “They’re probably going to hate us just because we don’t own a yacht and prefer bonfires over fancy cookouts.”

“Oh for- You’re incorrigible, both of you!” Simon exclaimed, shoving them forward and stalking off towards Jocelyn and Luke. “Don’t come crying to me later on, little Frays!”

Usually, Clary would have rolled her eyes at the nickname, would have chased after Simon and tackled him to the ground in retaliation. But right now, the beautiful brunette had positioned herself behind the grill and tied an apron around her waist, and Clary was starting to wonder if love at first sight was a possibility. And if not, then maybe she was just going insane, because she had never been so attracted to someone in her life.

God, what was wrong with her? She was a Lightwood, probably hadn’t even stepped out of her pretty mansion since the beginning of the summer, preferred the city over this small piece of heaven, looked far too perfect to be single and- And had the brightest, most stunning smile Clary had ever seen.

“Clary!” Luke beamed, pulling her the rest of the way to the grill – the redhead hadn’t even noticed she had gotten so close. “Isabelle, meet my daughter Clary. Clary, this is Isabelle Lightwood. I was just telling her that I thought the two of you would get along wonderfully, especially since the boys will probably doing their own thing over there.”

One look at Magnus told her that he would, indeed, be doing his own thing on his side of the garden. She wondered if she looked half as dazed as her brother and the Lightwood boy did, and if Isabelle had noticed. She hoped she hadn’t.

(She hoped she had.)

“Yeah, I’ve seen her around,” Isabelle told Luke, and Clary let herself be distracted by the brunette’s lips for a second before-

“You _have_?” She blurted out, ignoring her father’s amused look as he slowly backed away from the girls and headed for the bigger group instead. “I mean, you have? When? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.”

“You always have your headphones on, so I didn’t want to bother you,” Isabelle answered, and if Clary hadn’t been blushing before, she definitely would be now. “I try to take a stroll down the beach at least once a day, so I’ve accidentally stumbled upon you and your… brothers? A few times.”

“Brothers, yeah,” Clary confirmed out of habit. “You should have… I mean, you would have been more than welcome to spend time with us. I know we seem like a bit of a weird trio, but we’re actually rather nice most of the time. And we could always use some fresh faces around here; I love my brothers, but there’s only so much of them I can take before wanting to dunk them in the water, if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” Isabelle chuckled. God, even her _laugh_ was beautiful. “I love Alec and Jace, but at the end of the day, they’re still men and I still want to punch them half of the time. It’s one of the reasons why I started going to the beach. Jace is afraid of ducks so he avoids the place like it’s poison, and Alec stays behind with him out of brotherly solidarity or something.”

“I do the same thing sometimes,” Clary admitted. “I mean, neither of them has a problem with water, but they like going for long runs once in a while, so I use that time to go down to the beach by myself and just enjoy the peace and quiet. I’m sorry I never noticed you before, especially since I’m pretty sure I would have-”

She cut herself off before she could say something utterly embarrassing like _I would have remembered such a beautiful face_ , but it was a near thing. Thankfully, Isabelle only looked entertained and almost endeared.

“Well, now I wish I’d had the guts to talk to the pretty girl on the beach,” Isabelle smiled, as though she hadn’t just punched the air out of Clary’s lungs with a single sentence. “It definitely would have made the beginning of this vacation a lot more bearable. Don’t get me wrong, the lake is beautiful and the atmosphere around here is a lot… Calmer than the city, but I was starting to go crazy with just my family to talk to.”

“Yeah, it takes some getting used to,” Clary laughed lightly. “The first time I came back here after moving out from my mom’s apartment, I felt like I was suffocating. I love my family, but I always forget how _much_ they can be, you know?”

“I do,” Isabelle said softly, making Clary feel warm all over. “So, what’s your favourite thing about this place? Is it the lake? Or are there some secret spots I don’t know about?”

“Well, there are definitely spots you don’t know about,” Clary snorted, almost choking on air when Isabelle flipped a few burgers around, looking insanely hot as she did so. “Um- I- Yeah, lots of things you probably haven’t seen yet, since it took us years to uncover every little place in the area. But I think the lake might still be my favourite of them all. My mom’s ultimate saying is that happiness can always be found-”

“-around Lake Champlain,” Isabelle finished in her stead. “Yeah, my mom used to tell us the same thing every year when she tried to convince our dad to let us come here. He never wanted to, and then we all grew up and never got the chance to take a proper family holiday. Until now.”

“That’s a shame,” Clary breathed out. “I have a feeling we could have been great friends.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Isabelle beamed. “But it’s better to be _friends_ now than to have never become friends at all, right?”

“Right,” Clary answered, trying to pretend like her voice wasn’t choked up and a complete mess because of Isabelle’s tone. Either she was going crazy, or Isabelle was just as interested as she was. And quite frankly, given how ridiculous she had been acting ever since she had seen Isabelle, she was leaning towards the first option.

“Right,” Isabelle repeated. “Well, we should go join the others, or they’re going to start thinking I’m hogging the prettiest girl all for myself. They wouldn’t be wrong, of course, but I’ve got to stay on my mom’s good side, so I think we should go.”

Clary nodded, and then almost combusted when Isabelle took her hand and dragged her towards everyone else. The only thing keeping her sane was the equally besotted look she could see in Magnus’ eyes from where he was talking to the man whom Clary assumed was Alec.

So much for staying away from the Lightwoods.

* * *

“ _Clary_.”

At the sound of her name, Clary snapped her head towards her brother and shot him a questioning and slightly impatient glance. Magnus had been trying to get her attention for the better part of five minutes, and she had been doing such a good job at ignoring him, but she knew her mom would kill her if she let her brother make a fool of himself for much longer.

“What, dude?” She whisper-shouted across the table, blushing furiously when Isabelle chuckled from her seat next to the redhead.

“We should get out of here,” Magnus murmured, leaning over the table to get as close to her as possible and stay out of their parents’ earshot. “Simon said he would stay, but I’m going to take Alec down to the beach. You should take Isabelle somewhere too.”

“And why- Why would I want to take Isabelle somewhere?” She stuttered, hoping the brunette couldn’t hear her anymore. When her brother only shot her an unimpressed look, she sighed and bit down on her bottom lip, catching a quick glimpse of their parents’ relaxed faces and immediately caving in. “Fine, so maybe I want to take her somewhere. Do you think they’ll mind?”

“They’re reuniting, sis, they don’t care what we do,” Magnus rolled his eyes. “I mean, they’ll probably tease us endlessly tomorrow morning, but we could always tell them we were doing a group bonfire thing.”

“Smart,” Clary grinned. “Let’s do it. I’ll take her to the fairy spot.”

“Sap,” Magnus huffed, but he looked fond and excited and _happy_ , and Clary couldn’t find it in herself to think of a comeback. Instead, she stuck her tongue out and leaned back in her seat, angling herself towards Isabelle and sending a hopeful smile in the other woman’s direction.

“So…” She started, drawing as much courage as she could from her brother, who was already standing up and leading Alec away. “Want to get out of here?”

“Absolutely,” Isabelle replied, jumping out of her seat and bounding towards the beach as soon as Clary got up. “So, where are we going? Is this a group thing? Are we doing something at the beach?”

“It’s definitely not a group thing,” Clary said, swallowing down her nerves and hoping she hadn’t completely misinterpreted the signs Isabelle had been sending her all night long. “And Magnus has already claimed the beach for your brother and himself, so we won’t be going there. However, there is one place you probably don’t know about…”

“But I will now!” Isabelle smiled widely, lacing her fingers with Clary’s and squeezing them gently. “Show me this wonderful little spot, and maybe tell me the story behind it? I have a feeling it’s more than just a tree or a rock or whatever.”

“Yeah,” Clary murmured, lighting up at the mention of the one place in the camp she loved almost as much as the lake – although the hammock was a close third. “The story isn’t much, though, so don’t expect anything extraordinary…” When Isabelle didn’t interrupt her, Clary took a deep breath and let her feet make their own way to the trees she knew better than the back of her hand.

“When I was younger, I used to have night terrors,” Clary started, her free hand coming up to play with the hem of her shirt. “It wasn’t anything huge, just some leftover trauma from my bio dad, but when they got bad, the only thing that could get me to go back to sleep were the outdoors. I guess in my mind, nothing could be scarier than being outside at night, so going out was my way of… I don’t know, proving I was stronger than my terrors. Usually, I would bring one of my parents along to make sure I was safe, but one night I decided to be a big girl and brave the outside all by myself.”

She had been absolutely terrified, as far as she could remember. And her mother had yelled at her for an hour straight the next morning, telling Clary that it wasn’t _safe_ out there. The experience should have made her even more scared of the night, but instead…

“I found myself in front of these two big trees that had a gap in between them,” she continued, smiling as she realised they had reached their destination. She gestured at the trees in question and plopped herself down on the grass, praying the snakes would stay in their holes for a while longer. “I stared at it for a few seconds and then, like magic, _fairies_ started streaming out of the branches, illuminating the sky and soothing my frayed nerves. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life, even to this day. When my mom arrived, they were already gone, but I’ve never forgotten that these two trees hide a passage to the fairy realm.”

For a second, Isabelle didn’t say anything, and Clary thought the other woman would laugh at her or tell her the story was ridiculous or insist that fairies weren’t true. The redhead screwed her eyes tightly shut, preparing herself for rejection or teasing or something along those-

The gentle press of fingers underneath her chin was all it took for her to look up and promptly lose her breath. Isabelle was even prettier from up close, the moonlight reflecting in her eyes and making them sparkle beautifully. The brunette was smiling like Clary was the only thing in the world, and Clary had never felt more _seen_.

“So this place is magical, huh?” Isabelle hummed, looking around herself as though she would be able to catch a glimpse of the fairies if she tried hard enough. “You know, with you in front of me, I don’t doubt that for a second. Do you have any idea how radiant you are, Clary? You walked into our backyard and I’m pretty sure I forgot to speak for a few minutes, because I was too busy staring at you.”

“I- Yeah, the, um- The feeling is very much mutual,” Clary whispered, her breath hitching when Isabelle pressed their foreheads together until they were breathing the same air, the brunette’s lips almost brushing against hers as she spoke. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure you were even real for a second. You’re just- You look like an _angel_ , Isabelle.”

“Sweet talker,” Isabelle blushed, her fingers shaking as she raised them to Clary’s cheek and cupped it gently. “Would it be- Would it be alright if I kissed you now? I know we just met and we’ve barely even had the time to talk, but there’s something about you that’s been drawing me in from the start and I- _oh_.”

Clary covered Isabelle’s lips with her own and captured her gasp with her mouth, leaning even further into the kiss when Isabelle curled her other hand around Clary’s waist and all but pulled her into the brunette’s lap.

Isabelle tasted like vanilla and sunshine, and Clary wondered if there was a way she could stay right there forever, pressed against the prettiest woman she had ever met. She doubted that they could, so in the meantime she let herself get lost in their kiss, let her lips slide against Isabelle’s slowly and sweetly and passionately, again and again and _again_.

By the time they pulled away from each other properly, Clary was panting heavily and Isabelle wasn’t faring much better. Their lips were swollen, their cheeks red, and their eyes bright from happiness, and Clary let out a breath of delighted laughter.

“Wow,” she whispered, and Isabelle nodded, her eyes going wide as they settled on something behind Clary.

“Clary,” she murmured, her voice full of awe and disbelief. “ _Look_.”

Clary turned around, her gaze easily falling upon the two trees she had dreamed about for months on end as a child, and tears welled up in her eyes at the sight that greeted her.

She had always believed that the place was a portal, of course, and had often wondered if there was a way to activate it, but she had always come up empty. And she didn’t know whether the portal had reacted to the sweet feeling of romance, or to their kiss itself, or simply to someone as magical as Isabelle being around, but flying around the trees, lighting up the sky, were the beings Clary had started to think she had imagined after one too many night terrors. And yet, there they were.

_Fairies_.

**Author's Note:**

> Heya guys! Thank you so much for reading! I know this is yet another plotless fluff fic featuring our two favourite girls, and I honestly have no excuse other than the fact that I'm weak for a certain girl's fairy stories. Nevertheless, I hope you all enjoyed this little meet cute, summery fic as much as I enjoyed writing it! 
> 
> Love, Junie. 
> 
> (find me on [tumblr](https://hopesilverheart.tumblr.com/))


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